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China Confirms Third Test of Hypersonic Missile

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China Confirms Third Test of Hypersonic Missile

Defense Ministry says flight test is non-threatening

BY: Bill Gertz Follow @BillGertz

December 10, 2014 6:40 pm

China on Wednesday confirmed that it carried out a third flight test of a new hypersonic strike vehicle that U.S. officials say is part of efforts by Chinese nuclear forces to penetrate U.S. strategic missile defenses.

A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman told state-run news media the Dec. 2 test was routine.

“Scientific experiments carried out by China within its borders are normal ones conducted according to its schedule, and they are not directed against any specific country or target,” the Defense Ministry stated through a spokesman. The comments were reported in the official China Daily newspaper.

The official confirmation is unusual because China’s military development programs, and specifically its nuclear arms, are shrouded in secrecy.

The Ministry comment was made in response to the Free Beacon’s disclosure Dec. 4 that China had conducted a third flight test of the maneuvering high-speed hypersonic glide vehicle called the Wu-14. The test was carried out in western China.

Defense officials said the test was the third by China of the new ultra-high speed vehicle. Two earlier tests were monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies on Jan. 9 and Aug. 7.

The third test of the advanced weapon in a single year is an indication of the high priority China has placed on building the weapon, military analysts said.

John Tkacik, a former State Department China affairs specialist, said the Wu-14 development is one reason the Pentagon increasingly has expressed anxieties over Chinese weapons development in public.

“Clearly, hypersonic reentry vehicles are intended eventually to deliver nuclear weapons to a target,” Tkacik said. “And clearly, China is modernizing its nuclear weapon systems far more extensively than Washington policymakers have been willing to believe.”

Tkacik noted that the Wu-14 program comes “at a time when America’s nuclear weapons infrastructure, from Air Force delivery systems launch units down through the industrial base, is attriting its expertise, its scientists, its manufacturing capacity, its military morale.” By contrast, “China has upped the ante and is betting all in,” he said.

Mark Stokes, a retired Air Force officer and former Pentagon China specialist, the latest test indicated “the People’s Liberation Army—presumably the Second Artillery Force—and the space and missile industry have been carrying out engineering design work on a boosted hypersonic glide vehicle for quite some time.”

“Certification of the design requires prototype testing of the post boost vehicle,” he said.

Tkacik said hypersonic strike vehicles are designed to reduce warning time of an attack to zero so that “the target never knows what hit it, nor does an anti-ballistic missile system have the time to plot a track before it’s hit.”

“Unlike the U.S. which can’t build a nuclear warhead any more, China’s drive for a hypersonic capacity centers on nuclear weapons delivery,” Tkacik said. “But this is a reality that no one in Washington can quite allow himself to believe.”

The Wu-14 is launched atop a ballistic missile, travels to near-space, and then re-enters the atmosphere and glided to its target. It travels at speeds of up to Mach 10, or 10 times the speed of sound, around 7,680 miles per hour.

Operating a weapon at such speeds is difficult because of the stress on materials and the difficulty of controlling the vehicle.

U.S. officials have said the Wu-14 is being developed primarily to carry a nuclear warhead, but could also be used as part of China’s conventional strike capabilities, such as attacking aircraft carriers at sea.

The annual report of the congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, made public Nov. 20, described Chinese hypersonic weapons as “a core component of its next-generation precision strike capability.”

“Hypersonic glide vehicles could render existing U.S. missile defense systems less effective and potentially obsolete,” the report said.

A deployed Wu-14 strike vehicle will give China’s military the capability of conducting attacks any place on earth within minutes to hours, the commission report said.
 
Tkacik said hypersonic strike vehicles are designed to reduce warning time of an attack to zero so that “the target never knows what hit it, nor does an anti-ballistic missile system have the time to plot a track before it’s hit.”

“Unlike the U.S. which can’t build a nuclear warhead any more, China’s drive for a hypersonic capacity centers on nuclear weapons delivery,” Tkacik said. “But this is a reality that no one in Washington can quite allow himself to believe.”

Fear-mongering. This weapon is being designed as a deterrent, hence, defensive, although it may have inherent offensive capabilities.
 
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Hypersonic tests target no specific country

Scientific experiments carried out by China within its borders are normal, conducted according to a schedule, and are not directed against any specific country or target, the Ministry of National Defense said.

The ministry's press office was responding to a US media report claiming that China conducted a third test flight of a new hypersonic missile on Dec 2, following flights in January and August.

Hypersonic speeds are generally defined as five or more times the speed of sound.

The testing of the experimental Wu-14 hypersonic glide vehicle was part of China's "strategic nuclear program and efforts to develop delivery vehicles capable of defeating US countermeasures", the Washington Free Beacon quoted US defense officials as saying.

"The three tests indicate that China's development of a strike vehicle capable of traveling up to eight times the speed of sound is a high-priority element in China's large-scale military buildup," the conservative news website said on Dec 4.

A senior Chinese military analyst said China has made progress in hypersonic weapons programs, something the United States is now paying close attention to.

Li Qinggong, deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, said: "Some people in the US portray such tests as a threat because they find it difficult to acknowledge the narrowing technology gap, or the strengthening of China's overall military capability.

"The greater the speed, the more powerful the hypersonic weapons are. Although China still lags behind global military powers like the United States in this field, the US is concerned about losing the usual huge advantage of its strike and deterrence capability."

Lee Fuell, technical director for force modernization and deployment at the US Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center, said hypersonic vehicles "are extremely difficult to defend against because the time between initial detection, tracking and interception is so limited", the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Li said China carried out hypersonic research many years ago, but only started conducting serious experiments recently as the expanding economy meant it could afford to do so.

Leading military powers such as the US and Russia also have hypersonic weapons programs. US funding for the weapons' development is around $360 million, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

The website quoted US Marine Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Pool, a Pentagon spokesman, as saying: "We are aware of reports regarding this test and we routinely monitor foreign defense activities.

"However, we don't comment on our intelligence or assessments of foreign weapon systems."

Hypersonic tests target no specific country- China.org.cn
 
Fear-mongering. This weapon is being designed as a deterrent, hence, defensive, although it may have inherent offensive capabilities.

I cannot believe the only country to ever use nuclear weapons offensively is crying about how another country, operating under a no-first-use doctrine, could launch sneak attacks. Totally shameless.
 
I cannot believe the only country to ever use nuclear weapons offensively is crying about how another country, operating under a no-first-use doctrine, could launch sneak attacks. Totally shameless.

You have only yourselves to blame if your propaganda machine/media is not as advanced as ours in the West/U.S. We can make bad looks good, and good look bad. Something no other country/region can boast of, even though they are trying really hard, but their means/methods are so unapealing/crude that most countries in this world don't find them appealing/believable like ours.:p:. In geo politics every methods/means is permitted, doesnt matter whether its immoral or wrong. The end Always justifies the means man. If you are not up to the task, then you have only yourself to blame, we(west/U.S) will keep doing our job.:police:
 
I cannot believe the only country to ever use nuclear weapons offensively is crying about how another country, operating under a no-first-use doctrine, could launch sneak attacks. Totally shameless.

I don't think the US is truly afraid of the Wu-14 nor are they overly concerned about fairness or shamelessness or whatever. A lot of the outcry and "indignation" is actually for internal consumption. I.e. the US military wants more money.
 
I'm wondering what were the result of these 3 tests failure, partial sucess or sucess?

All three tests were fully successful, and those HK medias are just a bunch of dung eaters.

I don't think the US is truly afraid of the Wu-14 nor are they overly concerned about fairness or shamelessness or whatever. A lot of the outcry and "indignation" is actually for internal consumption. I.e. the US military wants more money.

WU-14 will make China's future ICBMs being nearly unstoppable, so this is just a game changer as the DN-2.

DN-2 will be China's most powerful shield by intercepting any ICBM or GEO satellites, whereas WU-14 will be China's most powerful spear by destroying any missile defense system.
 
When you try bleeding-edge testbeds, there is no such thing as a failure, partial success or total success. You learn from each eventuality. Either you fix the problem if it's a failure / partial success or you improve upon success.

I'm wondering what were the result of these 3 tests failure, partial sucess or sucess?
 
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